Beast in Human Clothing
by Jeice Lover
Summary: Teppelin has fallen the Spiral King is dead, and Viral is cast out to nothing. Wandering alone, he falls into an abandoned lab, a part of an underground civilization of humans. Now he will find himself clad in a powerful uniform, one of many weapons meant to fight an enemy from worlds beyond, and following the lead of the two young women who lead the fight against them.
1. Sounds Echo Undergound

The hiss of air decompressing from a small space was almost a knife through the silence of the night. The following sound of metal settling and groaning as it let itself down to the ground was even louder. It seemed that simply opening up the Gunmen was a thousand sound waves ripping their way through the silence. At last, Viral stumbled out of the large machine, grunting with exhaustion as his head was bowed.

He had barely managed to get Enkidudu out of the collapsing city of Teppelin. He had traveled sparsely, due to his capabilities of only being able to move about in his Gunmen during the day, while the sun was up. He kept moving, getting himself further and further away from the collapsed city, and the king he had once so revered.

Of course, he didn't move all the time. He slept, ate, took care of bodily functions, and all other things when they needed to be taken care of. He was immortal now, but he still had to sustain himself. But... for what purpose, really? He stumbled over towards the cliffs where he had landed by, in hopes that he could find a cave of some sort to hole up in for the night.

However, he didn't make it, as his legs gave out under him before he could reach them. He fell down to his knees, his large paws cushioning the fall at least kept him from completely collapsing face-first. Slowly, his hands curled into fists, until he was gripping double fistfuls of dirt as his knuckles pressed into the ground.

He had tried not to think, while he had been running for all of these days. But really... what was there to fight for anymore? The Spiral King had told him the secret as to why humans were always kept belowground, but... now what could he possibly do with that information? There was no way that the humans would ever believe a tale like that. It seemed unbelievable, even to him. Like hell the humans would ever even _consider_ the truth coming from the mouth of a Beastman like him, even though what he had to tell was really the genuine truth. He would be better off trying to convince a rock of what he had to say.

He could feel this, and so many other failures, as though they were heavy weights bearing down on his back. He had failed all four of the generals. He had lost the helmet of Enki. He was told that, as a Beastman, he would _never_ be able to stand against humans with Spiral Energy. And, what was more... because that fool Kamina had died so long ago, he would never have any true absolution. The only one possible who might be left was that human pup, Simon, and he had lost even to him.

Lordgenome had said it himself, he was nothing but a Storyteller now. Granted immortality, he was to recount the tales of the Spiral King's victories against the humans, but now all he had to tell was the tale of their King's defeat?

"Damn it," he whispered under his breath, gripping the dirt more tightly. "_Damn it_," a little louder now, lifting up his fist and bringing it down softly against the ground. "_Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!_" His volume increased with each speaking of the phrase, and his fist struck harder each time as well. He was so distraught, he didn't notice that the ground he was striking was producing a hollow, metallic sound each time he struck. "Damn it! Damn it! _You stupid, filthy naked apes!_" He finally screamed out into the night. "_Damn you apes!_" He lifted his fist up over his head, blinded by the tears that were spilling from his eyes. "_**Damn each and every one of you to hell!**_"

He slammed his fist down against the ground one more time, and his eyes snapped open when he heard a groaning sound. He barely had time to wonder what was going on before the ground buckled under him, and he was sent down screaming into the darkness of the earth.

–

The landing itself was surprisingly soft, but still jarring nonetheless. Viral grunted loudly when he finally hit the bottom of... whatever this place was. The fall had been long and rough, as there had been many rocks and sharp things on the way down into this... this pit, he supposed. The blond Beastman growled under his breath, holding one arm which had been injured on the way down.

"Damn!" He barked sharply, gripping the appendage with one large paw. The wound itself was closing, but he could feel quite a bit of blood streaming out from the gash. "Rrgh... can't believe all of this is happening," Viral growled. "And now I'm injured, just perfect." He felt the wound itself seal up, but he saw quite a bit of his own blood down in the pile of... whatever it was that he had landed on.

He looked upwards, where he could see a large rectangle of silver moonlight shining down onto him from above. He gritted his teeth as he growled a bit more. Perfect, now he had to go hunting around, in the dark no less, to try and find a way back up to the surface, and back to Enkidudu. Hopefully no humans would find it while he was down here, and try to hi-jack it as they seemed to have taken up the habit of doing so.

"Well, no point in sitting here any longer," he muttered to himself. With a soft grunt, he pushed himself onto his feet, and made his way into the dark. Well, at least Beastmen were able to see well in the dark, and the fact that he was a cat only made this advantage better for him.

He had gone no more than a few feet before he heard a quiet rustling noise somewhere behind him. Viral tensed, and instinctively reached for the cleaver in its sheath on the back of his belt. His body was on pins and needles, ready for any and every little thing that could possibly think to try and ambush him. He waited; eyes narrowed and ears twitching slightly as he listened about for what was approaching. He chanced a sniff through his nose, trying to catch a scent.

Then, suddenly, there was a loud rustle of movement, and he whipped around, striking out in the direction of the sound's origin. His ragged makeshift cloak flew with him, whirling about with him as he turned his entire body 180 degrees. He could feel his cleaver catch into something, but before he could look to see what it was, he found himself thrown down against the floor, onto a much harder spot this time.

Dazed, he was only aware of himself struggling blindly, and the sensation of something pulling at his body. Then, something wrapped itself about him, compressing itself into his skin, even as he clawed futilely at whatever it was that was attacking him.

Then, it was as if some sort of electricity suddenly zapped on through his body. His body seized up, and his breath caught in his throat. Then a second went through, and his body loosened up again. He just barely managed to stumble up to his feet, clutching at his chest, when he suddenly threw his head back and roared out into the night.

–

"Examination Squads, come in, this is the Discipline Committee Chairman. Do you read me?" One of the people in hazmat suits balanced their weapon in one arm as they used the other hand to press into the communicator in his ear.

"This is Exam 1, Chairman. Everything seems quiet in here. Haven't seen anything in here that would have made a noise like the one that got reported." They looked around, viewing everything through the solid plated mask over his eyes. "I think someone might have just been hearing rats or-"

"Sir! Sir! You'd better come see this!" The lead mask paused, then pressed his finger back to the communicator.

"...Scratch that a moment please, Chairman. I think one of the others has found something." He pulled his finger away, then rushed over to the other. "What? What is it?"

"I... I don't believe this, sir. It's... it's a..." The leader of the squad peered into what he was talking about, then gasped and immediately jammed his finger back into his communicator.

"Chairman, it's... It's a Beastman! There's a Beastman down here!" He bent over, looking down at the prone creature. "It looks like he's unconscious, I think he fell in through a hole from the surface."

"A Beastman?! In the lab?!" On his end of the line, the Chairman clenched his jaw and gripped at the edge of the table. He was trying to think of what to do, when he heard his small messenger pad beeping. "One moment. My Lady, how may I-?... Yes, they found something. It's a Beastman... No, they're sure, it's definitely one of them... You want us to what?... No, no I heard you. Yes, we will do it right away, my Lady. Yes, of course. Right away." He turned off his device, then turned back to his communications with the Exam Squad. "...Bring the Beastman in and toss them into an empty cell, our glorious leaders, Lady Satsuki and Lady Ryuko, want a word with this Beastman."


	2. I Want To Know

"Uuhh... Ghn!" Viral could feel the soreness in his body as he opened up his eyes. _Hn... where... where I am I? What happened to..._ His eyes widened as he suddenly remembered. That was right, he had been attacked by that thing... whatever it had been. It just jumped him from out of the dark. He remembered the sudden shocks like electricity and then... nothing. Everything was darkness up until this point.

He grunted as he sat himself up, and leaned against the closest wall. Well, that was one order of business attended to, now on to the next. Where was he, and just how had he gotten here?... wherever this was.

The darkness wasn't complete, so he could make out a few things here. There was something over in the corner, a bucket perhaps? It was sitting next to what appeared to be a pile of rags. Aside from that, there wasn't much else besides the solid, smooth walls, and the barred door that seemed to lead outside.

_So, I've been captured, eh?... Figures._ He grunted and leaned his head back against the wall, pulling one knee up to himself and resting his elbow on it. _Whoever it is, and if I could guess, it would be those filthy humans, they had better not do anything with my Enkidudu... Huh?_ He had placed his hand up against his chest when he adjusted his sitting position, but something felt off. When he looked down, he started with surprise. _What in the-... these aren't my clothes._

What, had they changed his clothing while he had been unconscious? What sorts of captors did that? And these didn't even look like the sort of clothes one would put on a prisoner. It looked more like a military uniform than anything else. He couldn't even tell what sort of material it was, it was so odd. However, he didn't have time to figure out much about it. He just reached down and pinched the shoulder of the outfit, then tried to pull it away from his skin to get a better look at it. It must have been very tightly fitted, because he could feel a slight pinch to his skin when he pulled on the material. As if it were tailor-made. Which made the whole thing even more odd. Because really, what sort of captors gave their prisoners specially tailored clothes, especially an outfit like this? The only thing that was the same in what he wore was his boots.

However, before he could take a closer look at it all, he heard footsteps outside, and the silhouette of a person came into view from beyond the bar door of the cell. He released the fabric from between his thumb and forefinger, letting it snap back into place against his skin, then looked out at the person, presumably a guard, if he had to guess.

"So, you're awake then, are you?"

"I am," Viral responded coldly. "Where am I? And who are you?"

"You're not the one asking the questions here, Beastman." Viral considered a snarky remark, but held back as he saw the guard come closer to the door. There was a bit of rustling, and the clinking of metal on metal, and then the door slid open with a heavy, metallic grinding sound. "On your feet. Our almighty leaders want to ask you a few things. Cooperate, and we will not have to use force against you."

_Them? Use force on me? Nothing short of death would make me open my lips._... Then again, perhaps not even death was a good enough threat anymore. He was immortal now, wasn't he? That was what the Spiral King had told him when he had awoken from the procedure. It should have been made even more obvious from what he had been through in the past few days since Teppelin's fall. He had survived crashing down through the building as the Spiral Kingdom collapsed, and the resulting trap of rubble that had fallen in around him and Enkidudu. That one might have been explained by the possibility of his Gunmen shielding him from the worst of the fall and the cave-in. But before this?

No matter how soft the landing was at the bottom, no being, human or Beastman, should have been able to survive a fall from that height. Not to mention all of the injuries he sustained while falling. With all of the rocks and stalagmites he'd hit on the way down, he should have broken his neck, or an appendage at least. Add that to all the blood those injuries had cost him, and you were looking at something that, even if it wasn't immortal, was pretty damn close to it.

The guard, whose shape struck him as oddly rectangular for some reason, entered the cell and stood in front of him in the familiar position of attention. Only, this person attempted to make the stance look authoritative, rather than respectful. Huh. As if a human could ever intimidate him with just a glare and a straight back.

"I said on your feet, now!" the square-ish soldier suddenly barked. Viral growled indignantly and pushed himself up to his feet.

"Fine, fine. You don't have to yell, you know. I can hear you perfectly clearly," he muttered. The Beastman allowed himself to be led down the hall by the guard. If anything, being interrogated might mean he would find out a bit more about the people he was being held by. He was led all the way to a large, bleak room with only a table and a couple of chairs as the furnishings within. He sat down in the chair furthest from the door, then sat back and waited as the guard returned to the hallway outside to keep his guard.

So, Viral sat back and waited for a short while. Eventually, he even took to clicking his thumb-claws against the ones on his forefingers, just for something to do. He licked his lips a bit and smacked his mouth before taking a dry swallow. Maybe he ought to see if they would be generous enough to give him a sip of water. He must have been out for a while. His mouth tasted awful, and felt all dry and furry to boot. Would be a wonderful way to speak to the 'leaders' of this literal hole in the ground.

At last, when he was in the middle of scraping out what little dirt was lingering about his claws, the door opened again. The rectangle guard from before stood off to the side of the door, but a part of his profile was still visible. In the middle, taking up most of the doorway, stood a single human girl. His glare was matched with one of equal intensity emitting from the eyes of this newcomer.

With one arm held stiffly over his chest, and his body bowed into a perfect, straight angle, the guard spoke.

"Our glorious leader, Lady Ryuko, has arrived." The girl, Lady Ryuko, nodded without looking at the guard. She was rather scroungy-looking, for a leader. Her clothing was something like a uniform, only somehow more... rough. As though she were some sort of common human punk, and this impression was echoed by the way she held herself. She sniffed when she saw him, causing the single lock of bright red hair among her bangs to drift upwards a bit, before settling back into place.

"Thanks, I'll take it from here. You can go stand outside." The soldier snapped to attention, uttered a sharp 'yes my lady' and returned to his post outside. She strode over to the empty chair with a confident, defiant sort of gait, and plopped herself down in it. Viral huffed at the sight; stupid, overly confident human. "So, you're the Beastman that managed to sneak in, eh?"

"I was under the impression that I was going to be met by both leaders, not just one, _Lady_ Ryuko," Viral said simply, not even bothering to answer her question. By the title the guard had said when she entered, he supposed it was reasonable to infer that she was one of the leaders spoken of earlier. The girl crossed her arms and brought a foot up to rest on the edge of her seat.

"My sister has better things to do than just come out here and beat the answers out of a prisoner. Let alone a _Beastman_," she replied, almost spitting out the name of his race. "So, you know my name now. What's yours?" The blond considered simply snarking back at her, but then decided against it. What was the point? Being defiant in this situation would get him nowhere at the moment. Besides, he was too far out of his usual territory in the Human Eradication Forces for his name to be recognized. So why would he be known here?

"My name is Viral, I am an officer of the Far Eastern Theater of the Human Eradication Forces." He raised up his shackled hands from under the table, putting them in plain view. "I would offer a handshake, but... well, I suppose you can see why I'm not." He let his hands drop back into his lap again, as Ryuko watched on.

"Far East, eh? You're a long way from your post, then, aren't ya' soldier?" she asked rather sarcastically. "Now what are you doing all the way out here? Not to mention in our underground lab?" That place was a laboratory? Didn't seem like any sort of lab he had ever been in, what with all the soft piles of... whatever the heck it was he had landed on after falling. "Well? What were you doing unconscious down there?"

Well, that certainly wasn't something that was going to be easy to explain. He wasn't very keen on recounting to this leader the fact that he had fallen into it whilst in the middle of what was best equated to a temper tantrum out of self-pity on his part.

"I was looking for a place to rest for the night, and a hole opened up in the ground under me while I was going, so I fell in," he replied as crisply as he could.

"And you were unconscious, why?" Ryuko asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I... don't remember." Viral's eyebrows lowered, and his head tilted downwards a bit, as though he were deeply in thought. "I was trying to find my way out and then... _something_ came at me at the shadows... and everything went dark after that, until I woke up in your prison cell." Was that why all of this had happened? Had there been something in the laboratory that had attacked him? But why? And how? He felt perfectly fine, and any initial injuries that it might have given him should have been healed too quickly for it to knock him unconscious. So what in the hell had happened?

While he was in the middle of his internal stream of questions, Ryuko opened her mouth and decided to throw a rock into the middle of the stream.

"So... _You're_ saying that you just happened to fall into our secret lab, had something come at you from out of the dark, and you fell unconscious? " Her tone was filled with disbelief and incredulity. "I don't buy it. My internal _bullshit_ meter is _way_ in the red. So why don't you just tell me what actually happened, and this can be easy for all of us, how's that sound?" Viral gritted his sharp teeth as the girl looked at, no, as she looked _down_ on him. Now, he could put up with a _lot_ of things, physically and emotionally. But this, being spoken down to by a filthy _human_, acting _so_ arrogantly, like a certain blue-haired male he used to know, just rubbed him in _all_ the wrong ways.

"Listen, human, I will make this very easy for you," he ground out, managing to keep his teeth clenched the entire time he talked. "I fell into your lab, something came at me from out of the dark, and that is _all _that I remember," Viral scowled deeply. "You're wasting your time trying to interrogate me, so you may as well give it up, because I doubt anything that I have to say will ever satisfy you. Not that it seems _anything_ ever satisfies you humans." He made a sharp 'tsk' noise, and shot another glare at the girl. "Filthy naked apes."

What happened next occurred too quickly for him to react in time. One moment he was in his chair, glaring across the table at her. The next, his chair was tipped over backwards, with him still in it, and he had the sharp point of a very large half of a pair of scissors aimed at his throat. The girl was crouching atop the table, glaring down at him from above with the ferocity of about ten suns in her eyes.

"What the hell did you just say?!" the red-streaked girl practically spat at him. Viral leaned his head further back into the floor, both because his head was aching where it had struck the cement, and the fact that the point of that blade was slowly inching towards his jugular vein. It wouldn't kill him, of course, but it would certainly hurt like hell to heal if she cut his throat, not to mention all the blood he would have to regenerate. "Oh, I get it now. You thought I wouldn't see through that disguise, did you, you twisted bitch?! Well, I've seen through it alright! You're not getting the best of me twice!"

"What are you babbling about, human?" Viral strained out, hardly daring to swallow down saliva because of how close that blade was to the skin.

"Don't play dumb with me! I've been fooled too many times now, and you're not gonna get to me again!" She pressed her scissor blade into his throat just enough so that a small amount of blood beaded up at the edge of the wound. "You're not gonna' get me this time, Harime Nu-!"

"Ryuko! Stop!" Ryuko stopped sliding her scissor blade into Viral's throat at the sound of the voice from nowhere, but didn't look away from him, and the her furious gaze didn't leave him. "That is _not_ the former Grand Couturier! Remember, the medical teams examined him when he was taken in. Not a trace of Life Fibers in his DNA. He may be an odd one genetically, but he is still a Beastman!" Ryuko huffed a bit, but finally relented and stepped back, pulling her blade away from him. The blood dripped down, and threatened to seep into the edge of the uniform, but Viral swiped a paw across the skin, stopping the blood from touching the fabric.

"...Sorry for jumping you like that," Ryuko ground out. "You... made me think of someone I know." Viral saw her hold a hand down, and realized she was offering to help him up. He simply let out a low grunt and stood himself up. He watched as the human girl kicked his chair back into a standing position, and went to sit herself back down. Viral waited until she was all the way seated, and finally returned to his own chair, though he sat very lightly now. "So... you say you just fell into the lab, then? I thought you Beastmen went everywhere with your Gunmen?"

"You humans don't know everything about us," Viral answered shortly. Like he was just going to tell this human that Enkidudu was all alone, unguarded, up on the surface. "And yes, like I told you before. I fell in, I was attacked, fell unconscious, and then I woke up in your prison cell. That is all."

"Why the hell do you keep saying you fell in, through all those rocks and stuff? Not to mention, getting attacked in there? Get real, there wasn't a single scratch on you when the Examination team brought you in, you were looking all crisp and neat in that uniform of yours." At this, Viral looked extremely confused.

"Wait a minute... I thought that your people changed my clothes when you put me in that cell." Now it was Ryuko's turn to mirror his expression.

"What? No. We brought you in exactly the way we found you. Why in the hell would we change a prisoner's clothes while he was unconscious? Especially into something like that?"

"Well, I'm telling you, these are _not_ my clothes," Viral insisted. He brought his shackled hands up again, and gave a slight tug at the collar of the military-esque jacket. "I wasn't wearing this when I fell into your lab, but when I woke up, I was wearing this. That is all I know. So if I were to logically assume, I would guess that it was _your _people who put this on me." Ryuko stared at him, mouth slightly open, as though staring at something with four arms and three eyes.

"...When you fell into our lab, did you ever-" she halted in mid-sentence with a gasp, because a shrill alarm had just begun wailing. "Damn it," she grunted. "Gonna have to keep going with this later." She shot upwards, knocking back her chair. She rushed out of the room. "Guard! We're on COVERS alert! Get in there with the prisoner and don't let him out no matter what, got it?"

"Yes, Lady Ryuko!" the guard responded with a snap. Viral sat back in his chair, waiting for the guard to enter, then locked and shut the door behind him. He walked right up to the table and glared at Viral across from it. "Alright you, just stay on that chair and we're gonna have no trouble, clear?" Viral ignored the guard, and glanced down at the table legs. It was just a regular wooden table, nothing fastening it to the floor... "I said, _clear_?"

"Oh yes," he said in a slow tone. "..._Crystal_." Just as he said this, he kicked his legs up and outwards, knocking it right into the guard. The blue-uniformed guard let out a short 'oof' as he landed, and even though he struggled to get it off, he never really got the chance. Viral was on him in a moment, landing on the table pinning the guard to the ground. He brought up both fists, then brought them down upon the human's head. He was unconscious in a minute, leaving Viral to spit into the corner of the room with contempt. "Seems these shackles were useful for something after all," he murmured to himself.

After removing the table, a quick search of the guard brought up nothing useful to him. There was a small ring with three keys on it, but none of them matched the keyhole on his shackles. He was about to throw them across the room with frustration, but a sudden idea struck him. He went over to the door and, rather awkwardly, considering the metal restraints about his wrists, managed to find the proper key and get the door unlocked.

_And now to make my escape_. With that thought in mind, he took off, and disappeared down the hallway.


	3. Suck Your Blood

Viral pressed himself against the closest cave wall as best as he could as a stampede of humans wearing uniforms ran by. They all looked young, but he ignored that for now. His goal was escape, not observation. Once he was certain the path was clear of them. He jumped from shadow to shadow, avoiding the running of uniforms and presumed civilians alike. Uniformed young men and women ran one way, and non uniform-wearers ran in the opposite direction, looking scared for their lives.

However, once again, this was of no concern to him.

The shackles still about his wrists were bothersome, but he had no time to stop and find a sharp enough rock to break them apart against. It might be easier to just break his hands and wrists, then slide them out, but the thought of _that_, and the healing process after it, was a bit more painful than he might like to imagine. He probably wouldn't have time to break everything necessary to do that either.

At last, he looked across a clear stretch of a cave section, and saw a small, dark, empty tunnel that it seemed the humans were ignoring in their running. Once the coast was clear, he made a break for it through the shadows, and arrived just inside the tunnel with no problems. He skidded to a halt and took a moment to breathe as he leaned his back up against the cave wall. As he paused to look outside, he saw some sort of large, white-and-red, floating... _things_ drift into view. However, more uniformed humans entered the scene and seemed to be shooting small, silvery things at the creature, driving it back the way it had come. More of the creatures came in another wave, at which the humans seemed to attempt a retreat, but Viral didn't stick around to see what next.

Viral turned away from the sight and ran down the tunnel. The echoes of yells and battle sounds followed him down the tunnel, getting further out of his hearing range. That is, until he came to the other end of the tunnel. He paused and looked about, trying to calculate his next move. Behind him was, obviously, the way he had just come from. In front of him, the tunnel seemed to open up into another section of cavern. It was quieter here, but he could still see a few humans in plain clothes running away, no white creatures or uniforms in sight. To his right was another, narrower tunnel, which seemed like it had a more upwards slant. If he were to guess, and hope, it might be a way back up to the surface.

_All the humans are distracted by whatever this is that's going on with those creatures. They're attacking their soldiers and throwing them into disarray. Perfect. Now all that I have to do is get out, find Enkidudu and-_

"_Eeyaaaaaaah!_" Viral's thoughts halted suddenly when he heard the high-pitched shrieks of terror, he looked out from the tunnel, and saw a group of small children running at the top speed that their little legs could carry them. Suddenly, one little girl screeched to a halt when the smaller boy she had been towing behind her suddenly fell onto his knees, holding his leg. The other children from the running pack kept on going, until one of them seemed to realize that two of their number were gone, and turned back to them.

"Yuko! Teiichi! What are you doing?! Come on!"

"My ankle hurts!" the little boy cried out. The girl, presumably his sister from their identical hair colors, looked worriedly in the direction they had been running from, and tried to pull on his wrist to get him moving again.

"Teiichi! Come on! We have to hurry! They're coming to get us! Come on! We have to get out of here or else-!" She suddenly cut herself off with a gasp, and let out another shriek as she tried more desperately to pull on her sibling's hand. From out of nowhere, it seemed, one of the large, white creatures Viral had seen earlier loomed up behind them.

_What... these things are going as far as to attack defenseless pups? What sort of honorless creatures are these?_ Viral thought venomously to himself. He looked quickly down the tunnel again, then back out to the children who were now cowering and clutching each other in fear as they screamed helplessly.

"Teiichi! Yuko!" It was a woman's voice this time, sounding desperate and worried as the thing approached more quickly. "No! Someone help them! Please! Don't let them take my babies!" The mother cried out fearfully and helplessly. Viral gritted his teeth, glancing between freedom and the children. "_Please! Somebody! Anybody! Help them! **Please!**_"

"Mama!" The children cried out together, eyes shut as they screamed, waiting for the monster to descend on them.

However, it never did. There was the sound of something moving swiftly through the air, and then the children heard something smacking against cloth above them. They looked up, and gasped as they saw what was above them. An odd figure, seemingly from out of nowhere, had flown in and delivered a swift flying kick to the advancing white creature, sending it flying to the other end of the cavern. Their grip on each other loosened as they stared at the stranger in awe.

Viral stood with his back bent slightly, legs tensed, and arms hanging down in front of him. The shackles on his wrists prevented the use of his hands, but he was a soldier. He would find some way to fight if he had to. Slowly, as the thing seemed to float up from the wall he had slammed it into, he shifted his feet, using his toes to remove his shoes. As he did so, he spoke.

"Listen here, you. I hate humans as much as any other Beastman, some might say even moreso," he said in a low tone, addressing the creature he had just attacked. "But here you are, attacking defenseless women and pups." His eyes narrowed sharply, "and that is by far one of the most despicable acts possible. You are a creature completely without any honor whatsoever." Shoes finally off, he kicked them to the side. His clawed toes flexed in their newfound freedom, digging into the earth beneath his feet. "And I despise those without honor almost more than I despise humans. So, why don't you come here, and try fighting an enemy that will fight back for a change?"

The white creature had itself up again, but he was ready for it. It lunged towards him, it was faster than he had expected, but he managed to dodge it. He was nimble on his feet, and he was prepared for its attack. After his clean sidestep, he kicked his legs upwards into the air, and proceeded to soundly strike it once more, though it was only halfway across the room this time.

He smirked with his shark's teeth, but this quickly disappeared when he saw that more of the same thing were coming out of the shadows. He could hear the children whimpering behind him, and narrowed his eyes at the approaching enemies. This was no good. His hands were still shackled, and skilled though he was, he couldn't defend those two forever. With a low growl in his throat, he planted his feet firmly into the ground, and flipped himself backwards in the air. He landed briefly again, but just long enough to scoop up the children into his arms, awkwardly pressing them to his chest with his shackled hands.

"Time to get the defenseless out of the way," he said quickly, just before performing another back-flip. The white creatures approached and, seemingly opening up their fronts, they sent out long, glowing red tendrils towards them. Even with his quick flips and movements, one of them managed to hook itself around an ankle. With a growl of frustration, he threw his body weight to turn himself in midair, and slashed the claws of his other foot through the line, cleanly severing it, and freeing him from its grasp.

At last, it seemed he was clear enough of the creatures, and close enough to the childrens' mother. She looked at him with fright and relief as he landed before her, and set her children on the ground.

"Yuko! Teiichi!" The children ran towards her and threw themselves into her outstretched arms.

"Mama!" The three hugged tightly, and soon became four as a man who might presumably be their father came and joined in.

"I suggest you all get out of here now," Viral said sharply. "I won't waste my time in saving your pups twice." At last, the humans seemed to have come out of their shock at watching him in his feat of heroism, and many of them turned tail and ran into the caves they had been going for in the first place.

"Was that a Beastman?" "What's a Beastman doing down here?" "Did you see that?!" "That was so awesome!" "He saved those childrens' lives!"

_They would be going so much faster if they would save their breath from talking, and use it to keep running,_ Viral couldn't help but think to himself. He growled as he saw the white creatures approaching him. His eyes narrowed as he observed the situation. There were five of them against just himself. He had no weapons. Few escape routes. He didn't know the area at all. Not to mention his hands were still shackled together. _To think, this all could have gone so easily if I just hadn't stopped to save those human pups_ he thought to himself with annoyance. As the creatures loomed over him, he smirked mirthlessly, and gripped his paws into tight fists. _Well, no use complaining about it now that it's already been done._

"So, are you going to come at me, or will I have to make the first move?" he addressed the large, white creatures. They floated there for a moment, almost as if uncertain. "Alright then," his toes gripped into the earth, "my move it is." With a low grunt, he launched himself forward, towards the closest white behemoth. He landed feet-first, tearing into the front of it with his toe-claws. However, to his surprise, it gave extremely easily, and he could see multiple gashes going down where his claws tore a clean line.

He wound up going straight down through until his feet touched the ground, and just barely managed to throw himself sideways as about five of the tentacle-like appendages from earlier reached for him. A brief rolling tumble got him enough distance for a moment, and he examined the enemy.

_What in the hell are these things_?! He wondered in his head. As he watched, the tears he had made came back together, and reformed themselves into the entity until it looked good as new. _That regeneration time is incredible, it's not even fazed_. Thanks to his immortality, he could regenerate wounds just as easily. However, as that particular ability was still incredibly new to him, it still gave him a start to see such things. _I need to find some sort of strategy, or an escape route, as fast as I can. Why did I have stop to save those pups?..._

He deftly dodged another swift barrage of those glowing red tentacle-things, managing to duck and slide away from every last one of them. However, at the very end, just when he thought he might be able to dodge away again for more distance, he saw a flash of red slashing down towards him, and a sting like a whip cut into his cheek. He grunted and jumped backwards, wincing the side of his face that had been hit. A deep cut was rended into his cheek, and the force of the attack had splashed the blood of the wound downwards, right onto the front of his shirt, forming a bright red stain atop the otherwise pristine white and yellow fabric. The wound had already nearly closed itself up, the pain evaporating, but he was mad. He growled lowly in his throat as he hunched himself in preparation to move again.

"You bastards! You'll pay for wounding me like this! You will-! Wha'?!" He felt an odd sort of sensation pressing around his body, as though something were tensing against his skin. To his shock, the fabric had begun to glow with a soft, yellow-ish light. "What in the- _glah!_"

Without warning, the uniform tightened against and into his body. He felt as though the fabric were whipping up against his skin where it tightened, along with a slight, pricking pain in one of his forearms. His body tensed as he felt himself be assaulted by the clothing he wore, while the white creatures stood still, seemingly in awe. At last, the whipping sensation ended and, with a last burst of energy, he was free.

"Wh-wha..." He managed a glance down at his wrists, which were now freed from their previous confinement in those shackles. However, he was feeling incredibly, _incredibly_ different somehow. "What just happ- _Yah!_" He glanced down at his body, trying to figure out what felt so different, and he saw right away what was amiss.

To put it simply, he was showing a _lot_ more skin than he had been just a few moments ago. His entire torso was bared, save for something armor-like on his shoulders, along with long sleeves and fingerless gloves covering his arms and hands. The only other fabric crossing his top was a couple of lines of tightened fabric that went from the shoulder-armor, and connected to the tops of what were now a pair of (_extremely short_) shorts. The only part of him that was covered to any _remote_ resemblance to the uniform he had been wearing were his legs, by a pair of what could perhaps be called akin to stockings, as there was a fair amount of fur showing between the ends of the shorts and the tops of the leg-wear. The leg-wear itself began somewhere up towards mid-thigh, then stretched all the way downwards to his feet, where the ends slanted diagonally inwards where it was all fastened to his foot by wrapping around his big toe, leaving his claws exposed.

"Wh-wha... what the hell is this outfit?!" he shouted aloud, purely out of shock. What little fabric there was left was digging into his skin, while not painfully, very uncomfortably. Not to mention the sheer lack of fabric, which made him feel like some sort of concubine or stripper. This was most definitely _not_ the military-esque outfit that he had been wearing a moment before. However, before he could wonder at the sheer oddness of the clothes he now wore, he was reminded by a whip-like strap of fabric rushing at him that he had bigger problems to deal with at the moment.

Viral just managed to throw himself out of the way, landing close to another wall and well out of the way of those things, for the moment, anyhow. He glared at the white masses, the likes of which he had no idea what they were.

"I don't know what the hell you are," he growled, "but you will _not _be defeating me!" No matter how odd and, frankly, humiliating, this odd outfit change was, he would not let a silly thing like clothing. So, though his face was flushed deeply red under his fur, he lunged out at the creatures, prepared to strike them with his claws.

However, what wound up happening instead was his foot pressing into the ground, and him suddenly being flung upwards and into the rock ceiling by the unexpected sheer force of it. The Beastman let out a startled yowl as he was propelled upwards. Surprisingly, he wasn't hurt by the sudden force of hitting the rocks hard enough to get his body slightly stuck into them. He hung there a moment in a daze before he managed to collect himself enough to try and pull out of the wall.

_What in the hell is going on?_ He wondered to himself as he yanked his arm free of a layer of gray stone, showering a bit of dust and pebbles in the process. _First this clothing, and now all of this strength? None of this makes any sense_. He might have lingered on these thoughts a bit longer, but he found it necessary to break from his train of thought as another wave of cloth tendrils shot at him with the speed of bullets. He leaped with the cat's agility that was in his DNA, and managed another narrow dodge.

"I don't know what the hell is going on, but that _won't_ keep me from taking you freaks of nature down!" Viral hissed at the white things. He lunged again, managing to keep balance despite the unintentional extra dose of strength pushed into the action, and landed against one of the first creatures.

As he didn't have his cleaver on him, he simply resorted to clawing at the thing. The thing shredded at the cutting of his claws, falling apart like pieces of limp fabric. There wasn't any blood, and even when he finally jumped back again, it just fell apart into a messy pile, no organs or other signs of injury aside from the dry pile of its remains, with a red glow that dimmed with every moment. Still, he didn't have time to stop and examine what it might possibly be.

He was just about to lunge for another, but his foot suddenly slipped out from under him, and the ground seemed to swing up to meet him. He just managed to catch himself on his forearms, and was panting heavily as a sudden shock of dizziness overtook his senses. Everything was blurry and spinning, and the world suddenly felt muffled. Despite his best efforts, he sank down until his cheek was laid to the ground, and he was panting like a dog.

Unbeknownst to him and his failing senses, the white creatures were surrounding him in a circle, including the one he had cut into pieces, which was slowly beginning to re-form itself.

Viral was unaware of the sounds of shouting and guns firing from down the tunnel, and even the point in time when humans rushed into the cavern and dispersed the creatures with guns firing sharp silver needles. He couldn't even register the white-and-blue high heel that clacked directly in front of his face, which was the last thing before his eye before he faded into the bliss of unconsciousness.


	4. Look Over There

Viral clenched his eyes slightly as he came to. Alright, this was only his second time waking up after falling unconscious from unknown reasons, but the second time felt like one too many, and it got _old_ quick. The blond Beastman tried to bring his hands up to his face, to clear some of the hair from his eye. However, as he was quick to discover, there was something there to impede that action.

_...And once again with the handcuffs_, he thought with a low growl of annoyance. It seemed as though he just couldn't catch a break since he had lost to that Kamina, especially now, after his loss to Simon. He tried to stretch out his neck a bit, but found that he couldn't manage that either, as there was a heavy iron collar around his neck, chained to a slat in the wall. There was a similar chain connected to a loop about his waist, and even his feet were shackled together. The door wasn't made up of bars, it was solid metal, from what he could tell through the darkness with his cat's-eyes vision. It seemed that, this time, the humans were taking no chances as to even the remotest possibility of his escape. Just perfect.

It was a mystery as to why he had even been forced into unconsciousness again... at least, that was what he thought for a moment. Then the memory of when he was last awake hit him, and he might have bolted upright, had he not been so heavily chained down.

He looked down at the militaristic uniform that he was wearing, so simple and fitted to each and every crease and contour. But he remembered clear as day what had happened to it the last time he had worn it. That odd, sleazy, skin-showing number had come right from this outfit he was wearing now... or _was_ it the outfit he wore now? It was all confusing, and the fact that he was only just awakened didn't help matters much.

However, he didn't have time to contemplate on this for long. He had only been awake for a few minutes when the steel door scraped open, filling his vision with light that was nearly searing to his darkness-adjusted eyes. He clenched his eyes shut for a moment, then braved squinting them open a bit to let some light in. As his pupils eventually adjusted themselves to the light, he could make out the shadows of a few people entering the room. Until, eventually, he could open his eyes fully, and saw who it was.

Ryuko was there, just behind another girl with short-cut hair, wearing a white sailor uniform and blue-and-white high-heeled boots. She held a sheathed sword in one hand, letting the tip rest on the floor. As she took her last step into the room, her heel met the cell floor with a resounding '_clack_', a sound that seemed to demand total silence from all around. She stood tall before him, her blue eyes seeming to bore into him where he sat up against the wall.

"So, this is the Beastman who has donned a Kamui?" she asked, presumably to someone behind her, without turning around.

"That's correct, Lady Satsuki." The answer to her question came from a teal-haired boy with glasses. He had a high collar that went up about his mouth, and said collar seemed to open and close, depending on when he was speaking or not. "Iori's analyses and the footage from the cameras have confirmed that this is indeed a Kamui, one hundred percent pure Life Fibers."

"How despicable, that a Beastman should be able to wear clothing so similar to yours, Lady Satsuki." There was an absolutely gargantuan human at the back of the group. His blond head almost brushed against the ceiling, and though he didn't quite have the belly to match, his physical build seemed something along the lines of General Thymilph's. Also in attendance, though they hadn't spoken, were a green-haired human male who had a mask over his eyes, and a pink-haired female who seemed to have a skull of some sort embedded into a jaunty hat she was wearing on her head.

"It is odd that he should have found a Kamui in the first place, Gamagoori," Satsuki said simply. "I thought that we had confirmed that there were no more Kamui to be found. It appears that we were incorrect in that assumption, considering that this Beastman has found one. I don't even know how he found his way down here, to be completely honest."

"His name's Viral," Ryuko said, crossing her arms over her chest. "He said he fell into the lab when he was looking for a place to sleep. I really don't buy it, but they _did_ find a new hole in the ceiling when they found him." Viral didn't flinch, even under the stares of the many pairs of eyes focused on him. If they thought that he would back down just because they looked at him for a long time, then they were sorely mistaken, he knew that much.

"Firstly, human," he said simply, ignoring the stares of the others around the woman, "if you had wanted to know who I am and where I came from, you could have simply asked. Second, what I told 'Lady Ryuko' here is completely the truth. I have no reason to lie to you. Lastly, I have no idea what a 'Kamui' is, and if what I am wearing is something you know about, then _I_ would like to ask _you_ a few questions about it."

"You dare to speak to the glorious Lady Satsuki that way?!" the blond human suddenly roared. His hand practically flew forward and slammed into Viral's chest, somehow gripping all of him between his fingers and lifted him up in the air, straining him against the chains that already bound him. The human's hand squeezed harshly about his chest, causing him to gasp for breath. "You filthy Beastman, you have no right to address Lady Satsuki! Let alone in such disrespectful tones! I ought to-!"

"That's enough, Gamagoori." Satsuki spoke again, and the blond human immediately stiffened. "You can put him down." There was a moment of silence, and Viral felt himself being dropped again. He coughed slightly, imperceptibly gritting his teeth against the pain of a cracked rib. However, that righted itself rather quickly, and he felt it no more. Viral glared up at the humans with his one eye, showing his obvious distaste for them. It hurt, despite the immortality, but he had been beaten plenty of times before, by both friend and foe, he was not intimidated. "So... Viral, was it? You have no idea as to what a Kamui is?"

"As I have already said, human, I don't. I already told the other 'lady' there what happened. I don't have any parrot in my DNA, so I'm getting a little tired or repeating myself. So if you want to hear what happened _again_, then why don't you ask the people I already told my story to?" The big one growled, but Satsuki held up a hand to stop him from doing anything. She considered this a moment, then looked to the green-haired teen.

"Sanageyama? Your observations?" The human named Sanageyama shook his head.

"I can't get anything on him. His breathing and heart-rate are normal, and his sweat isn't off from anything someone would have. So either he's a _really_ good liar... or he's actually telling the truth."

"And what do you believe?" Sanageyama seemed to consider this for a moment.

"...Honestly, I don't think he's lying. He may not be telling the _whole_ truth, but he's not lying about what he's told us already."

"If that is what you believe." Satsuki strode forward and stood before Viral, looking down at him like a hawk from upon a perch. "So, Viral, do you wish to know what a Kamui is?" Viral looked at her suspiciously for a moment, but finally assented with a slight nod. Satsuki gazed down at him a moment longer before she spoke again.

"in this world, there is a substance known as Life Fibers. Simply put, Life Fibers, when woven into clothing, can enhance natural physical abilities, and bring great strength to living creatures. What you wear now, as we have now confirmed, is an outfit that is known as a Kamui, which is made up entirely of Life Fibers." Viral looked down at the clothing he wore once more. So what he wore was a human invention, meant to enhance physical strength. It figured, humans always _were_ coming up with new, crazy ideas. It seemed to be a part of their nature to do so, really. "However, in order to utilize a Kamui, it is necessary to give it blood, so that it can be sustained during a fight. Despite this, we don't know yet why yours drained you so quickly, but we are looking into that."

So, that was why he had fallen unconscious after fighting in it for that short amount of time. And why it had turned into... that, after his blood had gotten on the fabric. It had caused him to lose too much blood... This _might_ have made sense, if he hadn't been immortal, and able to generate new blood just about as quickly as he lost it. It must have been draining his blood very quickly in order to do that. But, wait...

"...You say that these... 'kamui' are meant to be worn in battle?" he asked incredulously. "Then why on earth are they so skimpy? When I fought against those... whatever they were, it looked like that outfit showed off more skin than it protected. How would that be expected to hold up against anything in a fight?"

"I would assume that you found how much your strength had increased while you fought, isn't that right?" Satsuki continued to ask calmly. "A Kamui can turn one's skin to steel, shielding them from attacks. Their power is not something to be taken lightly. If you do not wear it, then you are worn _by_ it. It is as simple as that."

"...And, pray tell, just what sort of effect would that have on me?" Viral asked coldly. "If you want this oh so powerful weapon back, then you can have it. I never asked for this clothing to press itself against my skin, especially not now that I know it's alive."

"Unfortunately, it's not quite so simple as that." The teal-haired one spoke up again, though he didn't look up from the tablet he held in his hand. "Once we realized that you were wearing a Kamui, we _did_ attempt to remove it from you for observation. Unfortunately, it appears that it has somehow bonded itself to your skin and muscle tissues. We can't remove it without doing vital damage. As this sort of thing has never happened before, we thought it best to leave things be as they are for now, and continue observations on it until a later point in time."

Great. So the living clothing had actually _embedded itself into his skin_. Well, _that_ was absolutely wonderful. _Just_ what he had always wanted, a parasitic uniform that could drink down every drop of his blood fast enough to render him useless and unable to do what he wanted.

"And, with this point in mind, I now wish to proceed with the reason we _really_ came here," Satsuki said softly. "Gamagoori, undo his bindings."

Well, that was certainly a surprise. Viral actually allowed an expression of confusion to pass across his features as he rubbed his newly-unbound wrists. As he did so, Satsuki gazed down at him, and spoke in a plain, simple voice.

"I have an offer to present to you, Viral."


	5. Nauseating

"...So let me get this straight," Viral said slowly. "You're telling me that those creatures I fought against earlier were large monsters made up entirely of Life Fibers, who want to harvest humans to use as power sources before they die out?... And you say that, in exchange for my freedom, you want me to help you rid your pit of them?"

Satsuki and the four others had led them all out of the jail cell, and into the main cavern areas. At the moment, Viral and Ryuko were alone in a room where the walls were of solid metal, having been left by Satsuki and the other four humans. They had said they needed to 'discuss some things'. He didn't know what they would be discussing exactly, but he was more focused on what he had to endure at the moment.

"Basically," Ryuko answered. She was leaning against a wall, arms crossed over her chest. "Even if you don't want to, you don't really have a choice in this. Either you can help us and be free later, or you can say no and just sit around, rotting away in that jail cell." She shrugged her shoulders indifferently.

_It's not like you to be so cruel, Ryuko. Honestly, I thought this would be the sort of person you might take a liking to. No nonsense, and a strong will to fight_. Ryuko growled and tilted her head downwards towards her chest, grabbing the shirt part of her uniform.

"Oh be quiet, you don't know Beastmen like I do! I wouldn't trust this guy as far as I could throw him!"

"Ehh..." Ryuko looked up, and saw Viral staring at her, appearing slightly concerned and _very_ confused. Ryuko only narrowed her eyes and let go of Senketsu's upper half, letting him fall back into place. She then crossed her arms and looked away again.

_Ehehehe~_ She started suddenly and looked back at him, startled. The small, feminine giggle that reached her ears sounded _very_ familiar in a sense... though the voice was completely unfamiliar. Still, it had come from Viral's direction. _His_ voice was far too low to giggle in such tones, not that he seemed to be the giggling type anyhow, especially not at this moment. So, logically thinking... Ryuko's eyes darted down to the uniform he wore, searching for any signs of movement. However, the uniform was as still as the Beastman who wore it.

"...Why exactly are you looking at me like that, human?" Viral asked. His eyes were narrowed suspiciously at her as her eyes intently bored into his uniform. He swore, if there was something wrong with this girl who was supposed to be his guide in this place...

"...It's nothing. Move it." Viral sniffed, but did as she said. He still couldn't believe this situation. However... if this was his best option, he might as well take it. After what he had been through just a few days ago at the fall of Teppelin, sitting and rotting in a jail cell didn't exactly hold very much appeal to him. He just wanted out of here so that he could... figure out what next, he supposed. There wasn't much else to do besides that now, for him at least.

And so, he dully followed the human girl, holding back the questions he had about the girl. Why on earth had she been talking to her _clothing_? Was there something wrong with her? The last thing he needed was to be stuck in a pit of humans led by a pup who was barely a woman, and who was also unbalanced besides this. Still, he followed her, all the way out onto a sort of ledge.

"Well, here it is. Honnouji Pit." Viral actually felt his eyes widen at the sight. Forget a pit, this hole in the ground might actually have been a chasm, only with a roof above it. They were looking furtehr down to the ground where humans milled about, and they were so high above that all below looked like ants. Who knew that simple humans could have devised a pit as enormous and impressive as this?

"Hey, when you're done staring, get over here." Off to his side was Ryuko, standing at the top of a flight of stone steps that appeared to lead down below. Viral grunted, and followed along after her, making their way down the winding steps, all the way down into the visible bottom of the pit. Even for a completely downhill walk, it would have been tiring for a normal person. He, of course, was a Beastman, and in peak condition at that. As for the girl... he didn't know her excuse. She seemed like an average human in every way, except for the talking to herself.

Well... they _had_ mentioned that the two leaders wore Kamui as well, was that black outfit hers? If so, it looked completely different from his own. Aside from the obvious differences of pants and skirts, his own uniform had a high-necked collar, while hers had something of a dual set of curved lapels down over the chest a bit. There was something about the style that seemed greatly different as well, not to mention the color scheme.

Still, he didn't have the time to think on this matter for long. Before he knew it, they were down the inlaid stone steps, and had entered the edges of where it appeared the human populace was living. It wasn't long before they came into view of some of the humans. They appeared to be simple civilians, none of the uniformed, cookie-cutter youths he had seen earlier. The moment the humans saw him, they gasped, and some took steps back with fright in their eyes.

Well, at least _these_ humans seemed to know their places.

"Calm down, everyone," Ryuko said, shoving her fists against her hips. "I know this looks weird, but it's all fine. My sister has decided that this Beastman here is going to help us get rid of those COVERS bastards for good. We've just gotta bear with him for a while, and then we can get him out of here."

"Why can't we just get him out of here now?!" A voice called out from the crowd. A large group of them voiced out an agreement to the question. "He's a Beastman, they _kill_ humans! He's no better than those monsters!" Viral had been called many things by the humans, but being called a _monster_? That was a _very_ heavy straw to place down.

"Listen here, you-" he began to hiss, but he pulled back when Ryuko shoved the edge of some sort of large, red blade up against his throat. She shot a glare at him, then turned her attention back to the people.

"I don't like it any more than any of you do, but considering all we still need to clean up after Ragyo, we need all the help that we can get."

"But not the help of a _beastman_! He'll kill us all in our sleep!" There was a general agreement from many in the crowd. "We shouldn't send him back up to the surface! We should just get rid of him down here, so he can never hurt anyone again!" Viral wasn't particularly frightened of the death threats, given that he was a) immortal, and b) having the threats handed to him by a few weakling humans, but even he wasn't unaware of the building tension from the small crowd. If this wasn't stopped soon, they might have a riot on their hands. Ryuko tensed, feeling the rising electricity as well.

"Wait!" Viral jumped a bit as another human girl seemed to pop up out of nowhere right in front of him, arms crossed up over her head. There seemed to be some sort of light shining down above her, and a faint note of _hallelujah_ sounded in the tense air. Immediately, every human was frozen, eyes trained on the brunette.

"We can't just get rid of this Beastman! Inumuta told me that he's part kitty, and we all know that kitties can be sweet and nice and fluffy, if you treat them right! If you treat a kitty badly, it'll just get all grumpy and mean! We want a nice kitty Beastman, so that he can help us get rid of the COVERS!" Viral had been looking up at the ceiling of the cavern, trying to see just where in the world that light had been coming from, but quickly became far more immersed in watching the human girl. In the span of only her past few words she had stood on her hands, crouched like a kitty, drank a carton of cream from out of nowhere, hugged Ryuko, gotten kitty ears, hugged _him_, and imitated one of those large white creatures from earlier. "He's already saved a couple of us before, so we want to be nice to him, so that he'll help us again! If we won't be nice to him because he's going to help us, then let's at least be nice because he's already helped us before, okay?" She ended up by performing a somersault, frying a mackerel in a pan, and somehow getting to a height where she could pat him on the head.

_...What in the world just happened? _The blond Beastman stared at her, utterly perplexed. However, whatever she had just done seemed to quell the humans' hostility towards him, and they stood about, looking to each other and nodding. With her rant over, the girl, still just as bubbly, turned to Ryuko.

"Oh yeah, Ryuko, Lady Satsuki said that she needs you to go back to your place for a big meeting thingy that's going on right now." The red-streaked girl let out a noise of confusion.

"What? But I'm supposed to be leading this guy around and-"

"Yeah, that's why Lady Satsuki sent me. She says she wants me to come and lead him around, while you go to the meeting."

"Wha-?! But, Mako, this guy could be dangerous and-"

"Don't worry," the girl apparently named Mako smiled. "I've got my uniform in my bag right here," she held out a pink bag in the shape of a cutesy bunny, "Gamagoori told me to put it on if I get in trouble. But don't worry, I think that Mr. Beastman seems nice, he won't hurt me~" Viral felt a bit incredulous, given the girl had just described him as being 'nice', but he didn't have the chance to object about anything. Having heard Mako's reasoning, Ryuko only sighed and scratched her head.

"Alright, I'll let you take him around town. But if that guy causes you any trouble, you call me right away, ya' hear?"

"Okay, Ryuko~" Mako smiled, snapping to a playful attention. Ryuko then turned to Viral, fixing him with a sharp, cold glare.

"If you even _think_ about doing anything to her-"

"Save your breath, human," Viral interrupted. "I have no plans to do anything to your friend. I want out of here as badly as you want me out. If behaving well will allow me to do that, then I will do so." Ryuko glared at him a moment longer, then huffed and turned away.

"I'll be keeping an eye out for you, Beastman. Any trouble, and your ass is beat." Viral only allowed himself a snort as he watched her retreating back.

_Filthy naked apes_, he thought darkly to himself. He might have gone on in this train of thought, but then Mako popped up, and grabbed him by the arm.

"Come on, Mr. Beastman! I've got lots to show you~" With this, Mako yanked him and dragged him along, out into the city of the Honnouji pit.

_Just what have I gotten myself into with these humans_?

–

"Inumuta, what sort of information have you discovered from examining your data?" The tealette lowered his eyebrows, not even looking up from his computer screen to focus on Satsuki.

"It's very odd," he murmured, more to himself than to Satsuki. "If I'm reading the data that Iori recorded during his examination correctly... the rate of blood intake that the Kamui drew from that Beastman would have been at least twice as much as it is for a human." Satsuki glanced over his shoulder at the data, narrowing her eyes at the numbers on-screen.

"So you're saying that he has not yet learned how to properly wear his Kamui? That much should have been obvious, if he has only just put it on." To her slight surprise, Inumuta shook his head.

"No, what I'm saying is, I'm surprised that he isn't dead right now. With the amount of blood he should have lost from that amount of intake, and assuming that the average amount of blood in a Beastman's body is the same as that of a human, then all logic dictates that he should have died of blood loss within the first few minutes of his Kamui transforming. The only thing stranger than the Kamui's need for twice as much blood from him, is the fact that he would have been able to supply it with enough to last as long as he did. Without _dying_ in the process, that is."

"...And your conclusion from your data so far?" Inumuta pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, eyes narrowed at the pixellated images before him.

"...Inconclusive. More data necessary for a full conclusion, on both the Beastman and the Kamui." Satsuki gazed down at the researcher, then gave a terse nod, which he could see in her reflection at the corner of his screen.

"Record as much data as you need, then relay the results to me as soon as you have a solid answer."

"Yes, Lady Satsuki." There was a low whooshing sound behind them, and Satsuki turned to greet their newcomer.

"I take it that Mako is taking care of the Beastman?"

"Yeah, knowing her, she'll be out with him a few hours. She's going to let me know when she's done, or if she gets any trouble from him." Ryuko went and stood next to Satsuki, looking up at the screen. "So, what was it you wanted to tell me about our new beasty friend?"


	6. For Stars

"Sooo~" Mako smiled as she practically pranced around Viral, who was following her lead as she waved her arms wildly about in the air. The blond Beastman watched her with narrowed eyes as she hopped about. "I'm going to teach you all about Honnouji Pit~ Class is in session~" Viral only stared at her with a dull expression, but she seemed to be ignoring that. "You see, here in our pit, everything is separated by Star Rankings."

"...Star Rankings?"

"Yep~" Mako chirped. "The more stars you have, the higher your status is, and the closer to our outer perimeter you are. In here, in the innermost part is the No Star area, people who can't fight, and people who do things that help us go on, like grow food and stuff." She threw her arms out again and grinned. "Everyone here lives in the middle part of the tunnels, because they're the ones who need the protection. They can't fight for themselves, so the people with stars have to protect them." She said that this was the most protected part, but it looked like a bunch of shoddy houses, and people with poor clothing and poor... everything, basically. He sniffed at the scene.

_Hmph. In the Spiral Empire, all of the weak ones are left behind. Those who are not strong enough to fend for themselves, or cannot even uphold their most basic honor, must-_

… But, then again, there _was_ no Spiral Empire. Not anymore, at least. So who was he to criticize these humans and their systems? They had bested the most powerful empire under the sun, after all.

"Heeey~" Viral blinked, and realized that he must have zoned out, because all of a sudden, Mako was right up in his face, blinking at him. "Come on, silly~ I said we're going~" Viral grumbled, and pushed Mako down and away from his face (he honestly had no idea how she was standing so close to his face in the first place, considering how short she was compared to him).

"Fine, lead the way, then, human." Mako grinned, and hopped along to their next destination, with Viral following reluctantly behind her.

–

"And here we have the One-Star District. It's a little further out away from the No-Star District, but it's closer to the outer wall. The people here are sort of foot-soldiers, or so Lady Satsuki says. They're the ones who usually help people to safety if we have a raid from the COVERS, but they can sort of fight, too."

This place was... actually a lot nicer than the One-Star District. Here, instead of shanty-homes and little lean-tos of wood and scrap materials, there rose up neat, clean apartments with paved streets. The children and adults looked different from one another, but he noticed that all of the teen-aged ones seemed suspiciously similar to one another in appearances.

"There's quite the difference between the two districts," Viral found himself murmuring aloud.

"Well, yeah," Mako smiled. "The more stars you have, the more you have to fight; but because of what you do, your family gets a better life for you to fight. It motivates a lot of people to work harder, not just for protecting people, but to make life better for their families, too." Viral only let out a 'hmm' in response. "Come on~ Next stop~"

–

"Now here we are in the Two-Star District~"

...There was a _definite_ difference in appearances in this particular district. The pristine, cookie-cutter apartments had turned into massive, gleaming mansions. Each window of the building they stood before was massive, and framed with some sort of precious material. Marble seemed to be a common theme here, as with many other expensive luxuries.

"... There aren't as many homes here as there are in the other districts," he commented. It was true. Aside from the massive yard space that each mansion has before it, he distinctly noticed a great length of space between each home.

"Well yeah, there aren't as many Two-Stars as there are One-Stars and No-Stars," Mako said simply. "It's _really_ hard to get to be a Two-Star, because you have to be _super_ tough. Plus, you have to be a Club President if you wanna' be a Two-Star, and that takes a _lot_ of paperwork." Viral gave the girl a confused look with lowered eyebrows. He had no idea what she meant by 'club president', but whatever it was, she didn't give him the chance to explain. Mako had jumped up, finger pointed into the air, and grinned.

"Come on~ Last stop, and then we can go back and see Ryuko and Lady Satsuki again! Let's go~"

–

On the ride to the outermost section, where Mako claimed that Lady Satsuki, Ryuko, and the Three-Stars resided, Viral decided to make a change. The previous rides, he had been silent. Now, though, he decided to see if he couldn't get a few questions of his own answered.

"... Mako." The brunette turned her head towards him, then tilted it.

"Aah?" He wrinkled his nose at her cutesy behavior, but then decided to ignore that in favor of having his questions answered.

"... Lady Ryuko is one of your leaders, correct?" She nodded to the affirmative. "Then why is it you act so familiarly towards her?" He had to assume it was because they were close.

"Oooh~" Mako answered. "I've been friends with Ryuko for a_ long_ time~ We're besties forever~"

"...Right," Viral drawled. "Do you know much about her and her Kamui, then?"

"Oh, you wanna know about Senketsu?" Viral blinked at the girl.

"Sen... ketsu?" What did fresh blood have to do with any of this?

"Yeah, Senketsu, that's Ryuko's Kamui's name. Lady Satsuki's has a name, too. She calls hers 'Junketsu'. All Kamui have names, silly~" ...'Fresh blood' and 'purity', was it? Mako smiled, but it died slowly when he remained silent and staring at her. "... You mean yours hasn't got a name?"

"...No, I... I've never even considered such a thing."

"Eeeh?" Mako stared at him in total disbelief. "But a Kamui's _gotta_ have a name. You can't have a Kamui without a name, it doesn't work like that. It wouldn't make any sense at all if it didn't have a name!"

_And what part of any of this makes a single **scrap** of sense? _Viral honestly could _not_ comprehend this girl's thought process. In any case, what sort of name did you give to a blood-sucking parasite that sat on your body like a set of clothing? Like a vampire settled into your skin. He fell into thought as he picked absently at the hem of his (literally) skin-tight sleeve. Hm... vampire... blood-sucker... blood-drinker...

"...Kyuuketsu," he murmured absently, without really meaning to do so.

"What was that?" Mako popped up again, having heard him speak. " 'Kyuuketsu'?... Ah~ So that's its name, huh?~"

"...I suppose..." he answered, slightly withdrawn from her peppiness. Well, it seemed as good a name as any to give to the blood-leeching, living outfit that had somehow attached itself to his skin. Actually... considering what it was, it actually seemed rather fitting. Sort of nice, too, actually...

_Wait._ This had _not_ been the direction he had been planning to steer this conversation towards. _Gah_, it was so easy to lose focus when conversing with this girl. It was like she was a black hole that sucked in all logic from a conversation, from which said logic would never appear again. He had to get back on track before he lost the chance.

"Like I was saying before," he attempted again. "If you're so familiar with 'Ryuko', then-"

"Ah~ We're here~"

Aaand the chance was set on fire, blown up, scattered in the wind, and each leftover particle buried about 20 miles deep.

Viral watched as they pulled into the final station, where they got out onto the platform.

"So, let me guess, this is the Three-Star District?"

"No, silly~" Mako smiled. "This is the outer District, where all the strongest people in Honnouji pit live and protect us from the worst of all the danger. Ryuko, Lady Satsuki, and all of the Elite Four live here~" She skipped along, motioning for him to follow after. "Come on, Viral~ they're going to be waiting for us~"

Viral sighed and rubbed his eyes as Mako called to him. Well, so much for getting any information out of her. Oh well. He gazed up at the mammoth tower that loomed over them, narrowing his eyes at it.

Well, enough lingering on what he hadn't done for now. Time to get in there, and hopefully have a word with the 'ladies' of this pit themselves.


End file.
